A passion leads to publishing

News-Times, The (Danbury, CT)

Published
7:00 pm EST, Thursday, February 24, 2005

Recounting the "great feeling" he had hitting a home run at age 10, winning his team's game in a tournament, Cody once wrote, "What a moment for me! The one thing sticks in my mind was seeing my Dad, who was coaching first base, cheering for me out on the outfield grass with his hands up in the air!"

That piece of writing is part of a magazine story entitled, "Walk-Off!" that Cody wrote and submitted to a magazine geared to players, coaches and parents. To his surprise, Cody's story was published in Junior Baseball last summer.

"I stepped up to the plate looking for a first pitch fast ball. The pitcher threw a strike right over the middle of the plate, and I crushed it out of the park. Game over!" Cody wrote in the story, which his father proudly submitted to the magazine over a year ago.

The game happened four years ago. Today, the 14-year-old is still wild about baseball.

"All you'll need to do is walk into his room," Cody's father, Joe Sestito, his long-time coach, said.

On one of the display shelves in what is otherwise a typical teenager's room, are 20 baseballs, each containing an inscription with the date Cody hit a home run with the ball.

Other items included in the rather hefty collection of baseball memorabilia including a Lou Gehrig card containing a piece of his bat - one of just "one hundred in the world," Cody is happy to report.

He has signed photographs, including a favorite - one of him shaking hands with Don Mattingly at the mall last year - plus balls from major leaguers and a framed copy of his magazine article.

It was during the summer of 2000 that Cody hit that winning home run. His team was behind by a run in the last inning and Cody, the last up at bat, slammed the two-run home over the right center field fence to win the game.

"Now I'm sure there have been others who have accomplished this as well, but my son chose to write about it and send his story," Joe said.

Three years went by, and the family figured Cody's story would not make it to print.

"You can imagine our surprise and disbelief when the issue arrived last summer with his story printed on the last page, complete with his picture and in full color," Joe said. "I could not be any prouder as a father. A check for $50 arrived about a month later."

Dave Destler, editor and publisher of the Junior Baseball, based in Canoga Park, Calif., said in order for a submission to be considered for publication , it must "tell a good story."

"It has to have a have a beginning, middle and end and they need to be written in such a way that there's little editing.," Destler said. "We don't like to edit very much and while we will correct spelling errors, will leave in grammatical errors, because the story is written by kids."

Kids and their parents who read the magazine are generally ones who "live, dream and breathe" baseball, Destler said. "They're serious baseball players, not your average 'mom drops the kids off at the field once a week for practice,' but ones who are very involved and have families involved in the game. So the ones that submit stories are all very enthusiastic players."

Cody's first career choice is to play professional baseball, though he would consider being a sportscaster, or now that he's a published author, maybe even a writer.

Describing the intensity of his favorite game position, catcher, Cody said he liked being involved in every defensive aspect of the game.

"I'm like the leader in the field. Everyone's in front of you," he explained.

Added his mom, Lynn, "Catchers have to block balls thrown into the dirt."

Because of this, Cody said, he's taken "a few hits in the mask and off the helmet."

But his dad, a graphic designer who has coached his son's teams through the years, said Cody "wears his bruises with pride."

The mom said she is not surprised at least one of her sons -Cody has an older brother, JD, 18 and a freshman in college - loves baseball.

"He wore a Yankee hat coming home from the hospital," Lynn said. Her husband, originally from Stamford, grew up an avid Yankee fan.

Cody, a freshman in high school, played for Bethel Baseball's Cal Ripken League from 5 to 12. He also belonged to a traveling team from age 9 to 12.

At 13 he got to play in the "big field" in Bethel Baseball's Babe Ruth League and was once again on the travel team.

He also umpires, for the younger league and once made it into an edition of "Who's Who" in Little League, his mother said.

Yogi Berra is one of his favorite players, and Cody actually got to meet the former Yankees catcher twice. One time was at the mall.

"Then last year my dad and I want to his museum in New Jersey and he was there giving a tour of the museum," he said.

Cody, who hardly seems shy, decided to tag along, his father said, and even got the man to sign his card.